Keystone XL: That Way Won't Work

This is kind of vague, but it sounds most like what is called the I-90 Corridor Alternative, which was originally proposed to get the pipe around Sandhills and the Ogallala Aquifer (the environmental sensitivity of which is one major cause of Keystone XL's political problems in the first place). Since it has been given a name, we can assume that this alternate pathway already been thought of. And it has. From the draft EIS (Environmental Impact Statement), some of the reasons it was rejected in the first place include:

There's far more. As in: the I-90 Alternative would effect more sensitive wetlands, more farmland, cross more streams, and etc. than the current route. Here's a handy chart from the Draft EIS linked above:

Now, as I say, the two line paragraph in the Herald is quite vague. It might also be referring to the Keystone Corridor Alternative (you can see a map of the alternative routes here). Since it also has been given a name, you know its been thought of too, and is even worse that the I-90 solution.

So the bottom line is that the proposed route is almost certainly the best among the available alternatives. Thus any rejig simply transfers the environmental risk to some place other than Sandhills, and increases it overall. If the Obama administration can't get behind the current route, it would be even more difficult to get behind any of its major competitors. And note too that Nebraska lawmakers themselves are only talking about moves that would increase the pipe length by 30 or 40 miles, which doesn't sound like any of the possibilities considered in the EIS and which, therefore, will almost certainly not solve the problem of the pipe's crossing Nebraska's environmentally sensitive areas in the first place.